NEW YORK - Two days after setting sail from New York City, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson abandoned his transatlantic speed record Friday after his 30-metre ultra-modern racing yacht was hit with 12-metre waves in the Bermuda Triangle.
Branson made the decision around 7:15 a.m. EDT Friday, said Jackie McQuillan, director of his company, Virgin Group. The crew, including Branson's two children, reset their course for St. George, Bermuda.
In a live interview with CNN, Branson said the waves "hit us from behind and took one of our life rafts."
"Fortunately, everyone was harnessed in and nobody went with it," he added.
He told the network he called off the effort after his boat's main sail was ripped.
"So, we decided to abandon it on this occasion and fight another day," he said.
Branson had hoped to break the record for a transatlantic crossing in a single-hulled sailboat, reaching Lizard Point off the coast of England in less than six days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds -- the current record.
The crew planned a conference call later in the day to talk about the conditions that led them to abandon the effort.
The race began at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday at Ambrose Light in New York Bay.
As they departed, the 58-year-old Branson said: "We know we're going to go through ferocious weather, and that's what we need to get the speeds we need to cross the Atlantic. But obviously we don't want the kind of storm that's going to break up the boat."
The crew was comprised of members of Britain's America's Cup sailing team, several medal-winning Olympians and Branson's son, Sam, 23, and daughter, Holly, 26.
Branson has been breaking speed records since the 1980s. He broke a record in 1986 that had stood for 34 years when he manned a speedboat across the Atlantic.
He has also piloted hot air balloons across the Atlantic and Pacific.
He had been on a hiatus from such adventures since the 1990s, but said in September when he announced this latest undertaking that he couldn't resist the chance at "the greatest sailing record of all."
